Tina Cook wins Personality of the Year

British European eventing champion Tina Cook won the British Equestrian Writers’ Association Personality of the Year award at the BEWA’s annual awards lunch at Saddlers’ Hall in London.

Daughter of former champion National Hunt jockey Josh Gifford, Tina won Olympic individual and team bronze medals in Hong Kong last year.

In September, riding Miners Frolic, Cook landed her first European individual title in Fontainebleau two months ago, where she also won the team gold medal alongside William Fox-Pitt, Oliver Townend and Nicola Wilson.

Other winners at the BEWA awards were: • Outstanding under-25 rider award: Wiltshire event rider Laura Collett, winner of the individual and team gold at the European Young Riders’ Championship in Belgium. • Under-18 award: Welsh showjumper Carian Scudamore, the European junior champion • Horse of the year: Dressage star Laura Bechtolsheimer’s Mistral Hojris following their medal success at the senior European Championships in Windsor • The Liz Dudden Trophy for contributions to equestrian sport: Pony Club chief executive Judy Edwards